30 Useful and Hilarious Lorem Ipsum Generators

Lorem ipsum represents a long-held tradition for designers, typographers and the like. Some people hate it and argue for its demise, but others ignore the hate as they create awesome tools to help create filler text for everyone from bacon lovers to Charlie Sheen fans.

Today we’re going to briefly discuss why lorem ipsum and its brethren still have legitimate uses and then we’ll have some fun as we check out thirty great dummy content generators that you’ll definitely want to bookmark.

Is Lorem Ipsum Useful?

The obvious idea is to start this article off with a description of lorem ipsum and where it came from, but as designers we pretty much all get the idea: it’s filler text. Perhaps a more relevant topic of discussion is whether or not you should ever really use lorem ipsum in your work.

The question is an important one and something I’ve given a lot of thought to lately. There are plenty of people against it altogether. For instance, John McGarvey writes the following for .Net Magazine:

“Latin placeholder text isn’t just a simple nuisance. It’s a plague on web design, a massive obstacle to building truly great online experiences. There’s no need for it in a world where content goes right to the heart of every successful website.” – John McGarvey

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The argument that John makes is sound: that designers shouldn’t be using dummy text in place of relevant content. I completely agree that designers should place content first! Start with content, then add structure, a logical progression of thought and aesthetic styling.

That being said, saying that there’s absolutely no need for filler text is definitely shortsighted. From the small perspective that McGarvey frames the argument, he’s right. However, if we take a step back, we can see that there are still tons of possible and legitimate uses for lorem ipsum.

In a nice theoretical web design workflow, designers have complete control over content and the progression of the design. In the real world, those who pay designers demand mockups before providing content. Perhaps there’s a paragraph of legal copy that the designer needs to consider in the layout but won’t actually receive from the legal department until much further down the road. Or maybe the PHP guy needs to test his new page generating script simply to see if it works. There’s also the consideration of blog template designers, who do in fact need to design content containers that work for a variety of different purposes.

My point is, think twice about using filler content when you have the power to do otherwise but don’t hesitate to realize that there are legitimate situations where tossing in some placeholder copy won’t represent the utter destruction of the integrity of the design industry.

With that argument out of the way, we can get to the good stuff! Here are 30 awesome placeholder content generators.

This one is labelled, “The ‘lorem ipsum’ generator that doesn’t suck”, and I have to agree. If you’re looking for a tool with lots of options for including unordered lists, block quotes, code samples and the like, this is your generator.

One final standard generator with a bunch of language and character set options. You can even add in random question and exclamation marks.

Fun Generators

Here’s where things go crazy. Some intrepid souls who grew tired of lorem ipsum decided to create alternative generators based on a variety of topics. The results are definitely good for a laugh! Notable favorites include Bacon Ipsum and Hipster Ipsum!

In this section, instead of a description, I’ll simply insert a sample paragraph so you can get a feel for the result.

Mediagazer hyperhyperhyperlocal. going forward we will make them pay try PR open newsroom try PR future of context social media optimization Storify gotta grok it before you rock it media bias Pulse, fair use dead trees the power of the press belongs to the person who owns one Pictures of Goats section go viral Romenesko eHow newsroom cafe.

Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune.

If you’re a Pulp Fiction fan, this one is awesome. If you’re not, the content is likely to be highly offensive. To keep things family friendly, I chose not to include a snippet from this one, check it out if you love irreverently hilarious streams of curses.

Um … and not to completely discount what you just talked about … It’s just that if I bring up these … these turds … these little losers… there’s no reason to then bring them back into the fold, because I have real fame, and they have nothing.

Example: Alderaan? I’m not going to Alderaan. I’ve got to go home. It’s late, I’m in for it as it is. No! Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons. You can’t possibly… The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

But now forget all about blinds and whiskers for a moment, and, standing in the Right Whale’s mouth, look around you afresh. Seeing all these colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand pipes?

The main theme of the works of Gaiman is the difference between sexual identity and consciousness. The characteristic theme of Hanfkopf’s analysis of textual discourse is the role of the writer as poet. In a sense, Foucault promotes the use of the subcultural paradigm of consensus to challenge capitalism. Bataille uses the term ‘Marxist class’ to denote the failure of materialist class.

Example: If she meets him once, and again comes to meet him better dressed than before, or comes to him in some lonely place, he should be certain that she is capable of being enjoyed by the use of a little force. A woman who lets a man make up to her, but does not give herself up, even after a long time, should be considered as a trifler in love.

Image & Code Generators

The options above should be enough to give you awesome placeholder text for decades to come. Venturing back into the useful category, below are some tools for generating other types of dummy content.

I use Lorempixum all the time on Design Shack. You can type in a link with the file dimensions and photo category that you want an an image will automatically be inserted into your code fitting that criteria.

This one is a lot like a cross between the last two. It uses links like Lorempixum but simple images like Dynamic Dummy Image Generator (a little more stylish and subtle though).

What I Use: Ladle Rat Rotten Hut

In case you’re wondering, when I’m creating something for general or personal use, I go right to Ladle Rat Rotten Hut. What is this gibberish you ask? It’s a wonderful trick known as a homophonic transformation.

In 1940, Howard L. Chace wrote the story of Little Red Riding Hood using words that don’t really make any sense together but sound close enough to the intended meaning that you can still read the story. The result is both impressive and hilarious. Here’s an excerpt, can you tell what it’s trying to say?

Conclusion

Whether or not you’re a fan of placeholder content, I hope this article at least provided a good laugh. Leave a comment below and let us know about your favorite lorem ipsum generators, whether they’re really useful or really ridiculous!